National Review Online did a little investigation, and public records show that the Department of the Interior knew beforehand that two ‘honor flights’ of aging World War II veterans would be visiting the World War II Memorial when the partial government shutdown began on October 1, but decided to barricade the open air site anyway.

This was a clear political effort to make the public angry about the partial government shutdown. The World War II Memorial is an open-air memorial, and the National Park Service had to go to the effort of erecting barriers and adding guards to prevent the old veterans from visiting the memorial. A remarkably nasty ploy. The honor flights raise private money to pay the expenses of veterans to see the national memorial erected in their honor. Sort of a last chance thing, for the youngest vets from that war are 87. The visit is a pretty big deal.

The internal e-mails show that the National Park Service was worried, with some justification, about the potential public reaction. The administration was not prepared for the reaction of the veterans, nor for the public reaction to attempts to close all National Parks, and memorials.

What this episode shows, once again, is the totalitarian temptation of the Left. Politics trumps people every time. People are to be manipulated, used. The goal is power and winning, and that need will always trump ordinary people. Enrolling people in government controlled health care which can be morphed into single-payer, is far more important than any cancer patient getting their life-saving meds, more important than access to the special hospital. Winning, power, and progress towards the shining goal will always trump humanity.